HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES STAFF ANALYSIS
BILL #: CS/CS/CS/HB 1557 Sexual Exploitation and Human Trafficking
SPONSOR(S): Health & Human Services Committee, Health Care Appropriations Subcommittee, Children,
Families & Seniors Subcommittee, Salzman
TIED BILLS: IDEN./SIM. BILLS: SB 1690
REFERENCE ACTION ANALYST STAFF DIRECTOR or
BUDGET/POLICY CHIEF
1) Children, Families & Seniors Subcommittee 17 Y, 0 N, As CS Brazzell Brazzell
2) Health Care Appropriations Subcommittee 14 Y, 0 N, As CS Fontaine Clark
3) Health & Human Services Committee 20 Y, 0 N, As CS Brazzell Calamas
SUMMARY ANALYSIS
Human trafficking is a form of modern-day slavery affecting young children, teenagers, and adults, who are
subjected to force, fraud, or coercion for sexual exploitation or forced labor. Sex trafficking operations often use
public lodging establishments, without the establishment operator’s knowledge. In one study, 75 percent of
human trafficking survivors reported coming into contact with hotels at some point while being trafficked. Public
lodging establishments must provide trafficking awareness training to certain employees and place human
trafficking awareness signage in certain locations.
When children cannot safely remain at home with parents, Florida’s child welfare system finds safe out-of-
home placements for children. The Department of Children and Families (DCF) licenses residential group care
placements as residential child-caring agencies that provide staffed 24-hour care for children in facilities
maintained for that purpose. Some such licensed placements are certified as safe houses for commercially
sexually exploited children; DCF also certifies safe foster homes. Safe houses and safe foster homes must
provide a safe, separate, and therapeutic environment tailored to the needs of commercially sexually exploited
children.
Presently, 13 adult safe houses serve adult survivors of human trafficking in Florida. No state agency regulates
or monitors adult safe houses.
CS/CS/HB 1557 requires:
child welfare safe houses and safe foster homes to have a trained individual on staff or under contract
to provide security services, and provide age-appropriate human trafficking awareness education to
their residents.
DCF to develop human trafficking public awareness signs, and requires certain child welfare residential
facilities to post them.
a committee of the Statewide Council on Human Trafficking to conduct a study of adult safe houses,
and, after the completion of the study, that DCF adopt rules to certify adult safe houses.
The bill also reduces the time from 90 to 45 days that a public lodging establishment has to correct a first
violation of requirements for human trafficking-related signage and employee training, and requires the
Department of Business and Professional Regulation to impose a penalty without a correction period for
subsequent violations.
The bill appropriates $75,000 in recurring funds and $388,000 in nonrecurring funds to DCF for technology
modifications necessary to implement the bill. There is no fiscal impact on local government.
The bill provides an effective date of July 1, 2023.
This docum ent does not reflect the intent or official position of the bill sponsor or House of Representatives .
STORAGE NAME: h1557f.HHS
DATE: 4/24/2023
FULL ANALYSIS
I. SUBSTANTIVE ANALYSIS
A. EFFECT OF PROPOSED CHANGES:
Background
Department of Children and Families
The mission of the Department of Children and Families (DCF) is to work in partnership with local
communities to protect the vulnerable, promote strong and economically self-sufficient families, and
advance personal and family recovery and resiliency.1
Under s. 20.19(4), F.S., DCF must provide services relating to:
Adult protection.
Child care regulation.
Child welfare.
Domestic violence.
Economic self-sufficiency.
Homelessness.
Mental health.
Refugees.
Substance abuse.
DCF must also deliver services by contract through private providers to the extent allowed by law and
funding.2 These private providers include community-based care lead agencies (CBCs) delivering child
welfare services and managing entities (MEs) delivering behavioral health services.
Florida’s Child Welfare System
Chapter 39, F.S., creates the dependency system charged with protecting child welfare. Florida’s
dependency system identifies children and families in need of services through reports to the central
abuse hotline and child protective investigations. DCF and the 18 CBCs throughout Florida3 work with
those families to address the problems endangering children, if possible. If the problems are not
addressed, the child welfare system finds safe out-of-home placements for these children.
DCF’s practice model is based on the safety of the child within the home by using in-home services,
such as parenting coaching and counseling, to maintain and strengthen that child’s natural supports in
his or her environment.
DCF contracts with CBCs for case management, out-of-home services, and related services. The
outsourced provision of child welfare services is intended to increase local community ownership of
service delivery and design. CBCs contract with a number of subcontractors for case management and
direct care services to children and their families.
DCF remains responsible for a number of child welfare functions, including operating the central abuse
hotline, performing child protective investigations, and providing children’s legal services.4 Ultimately,
DCF is responsible for program oversight and the overall performance of the child welfare system. 5
1 S. 20.19(1), F.S.
2 Id.
3 These 17 CBCs together serve the state’s 20 judicial circuits.
4 Ch. 39, F.S.
5 Id.
STORAGE NAME: h1557f.HHS PAGE: 2
DATE: 4/24/2023
Human Trafficking
Human trafficking is a form of modern-day slavery affecting young children, teenagers, and adults, who
are subjected to force, fraud, or coercion for sexual exploitation or forced labor. 6 In 2004, the Florida
Legislature criminalized human trafficking and unlawfully obtaining labor or services. 7 Florida statute
defines “human trafficking” as the “transporting, soliciting, recruiting, harboring, providing, enticing,
maintaining, purchasing, patronizing, procuring, or obtaining of another person for the purpose of
exploitation of that person.”8 Under current law, any person who knowingly engages in human
trafficking commits a first-degree or life felony, depending on the nature of the offense.9 Human
trafficking is typically classified as either forced labor or commercial sexual exploitation.
Forced Labor
Forced labor occurs when an individual knowingly provides or obtains the labor or services of a person
by means of:
Force, threats of force, physical restraint, or threats of physical restraint to that person or another
person;
Serious harm or threats of serious harm to that person or another person;
Abuse or threatened abuse of law or legal process; or
Any scheme, plan, or pattern intended to cause the person to believe that, if that person did not
perform such labor or services, that person or another person would suffer serious harm or physical
restraint.10
Forced labor can exist in domestic servitude, restaurant work, janitorial work, sweatshop factory work,
and migrant agricultural work.11
Commercial Sexual Exploitation
Commercial sexual exploitation is a form of human trafficking where the trafficker involves the victim in
commercial sex acts such as prostitution and pornography as a means for the perpetrator to make
money.12 Both adults and children can be victims of these acts. 13 The U.S. Department of Justice
estimates that as many as 300,000 children in the United States are at risk for commercial sexual
exploitation.14
In cases of commercial sex trafficking of minors, traffickers or pimps often operate as the primary
domestic sex traffickers and target particularly vulnerable youth, such as runaway and homeless
youth.15 Pimps may engage in a “grooming” process where a child is showered with gifts, treats, and
compliments in order to earn his or her trust though they can also use violence and intimidation.16 Often
the children have low self-esteem and may live in high-crime environments or in poverty, or have past
childhood trauma which may include sexual or physical abuse. 17 Traffickers may take on a role of
protector to maintain control of the child, create confusion, and develop a connection or attachment,
6 US. Department of Health & Human Services, Office of Trafficking in Persons, Fact Sheet: Human Trafficking,
https://www.acf.hhs.gov/otip/fact-sheet/resource/fshumantrafficking (accessed April 24, 2023).
7 S. 787.06, F.S.
8 Id.
9
Id.
10 18 U.S.C. s. 1589.
11 S. 787.06, F.S.
12 The federal Trafficking Victims Protection Act defines “commercial sex act” as any sex act on account of which anything of va lue is
given to or received by any person. 22 U.S.C. s. 7102(4).
13 S. 787.06, F.S.
14 U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, OJP Fact Sheet, Fast Facts, (Dec. 2011),
http://ojp.gov/newsroom/factsheets/ojpfs_humantrafficking.html (last visited March 16, 2023).
15 U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children and
Sex Trafficking, available at https://ojjdp.ojp.gov/model-programs-guide/literature-
reviews/commercial_sexual_exploitation_of_children_and_sex_traffickin g.pdf (last viewed Mar. 16, 2023).
16 Id.
17 Id.
STORAGE NAME: h1557f.HHS PAGE: 3
DATE: 4/24/2023
which may include the child feeling a sense of loyalty to or love for the trafficker. This connection, or
traumatic bond, becomes especially intense when fear of the trafficker is paired with gratitude for any
kindness shown. Psychologists and clinicians call this phenomenon “trauma bonding.” 18 Although
definitions vary, the most common meaning of trauma bonding is when a trafficker uses rewards and
punishments within cycles of abuse to foster a powerful emotional connection with the victim.19 While
this is a common way that commercial sexual exploitation occurs, some children are commercially
sexually exploited by family members or organized networks. 20
Child Sexual Exploitation in Florida
It is difficult to obtain an accurate count of commercial sexual exploitation (CSE) victims who are
children because these victims are not readily identifiable. 21 CSE victims do not have immediately
recognizable characteristics, many do not have identification, and they are often physically or
psychologically controlled by adult traffickers; as such, they rarely disclose or provide information on
exploitation.22
Section 39.01(77)(g), F.S., provides the definition for sexual abuse of a child, which includes sexual
exploitation of a child, defined as the act of a child offering to engage in or engaging in prostitution, or
the act of allowing, encouraging, or forcing a child to solicit for or engage in prostitution; engage in a
sexual performance, as defined by chapter 827; or participate in the trade of human trafficking as
provided in s. 787.06(3)(g), F.S. For calendar year 2021, DCF verified 377 child victims of commercial
sexual exploitation from 3,182 reports alleging commercial sexual exploitation made to the hotline.23 Of
the reports that were referred for investigation, most came from the Department of Juvenile Justice
(DJJ), the Department of Corrections, or criminal justice personnel and law enforcement. 24 Of the 377
verified commercially sexually exploited children, 25% were in out-of-home care, including the care of
relatives or in foster homes, residential group care, or residential treatment centers. 25
Connection between Children’s Placement in Foster Care and Human Trafficking
A substantial minority of children in foster care abscond from their placement at least once. A study
using data on children in Florida’s child welfare system from 2011-2017 indicated that 19% of children
ran away at least once. A study of several midwestern states reported that nearly half of youth who had
been in foster care reported running away. Another study of girls in foster care (with a small sample
size of 44) found that 44% cited running away as their pathway to commercial sexual exploitation,
compared to other reasons such as recruitment by another child in foster care (26%), and recruited by
noncustodial parent (19%).26
In a brief from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of
Planning, Research, and Evaluation:
Several factors may increase vulnerability to trafficking victimization
among youth who run from foster care. Many researchers have theorized
18 U.S. Department of State, Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, Trauma Bonding in Human Trafficking, June 2020 ,
https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/TIP_Factsheet-Trauma-Bonding-in-Human-Trafficking-508.pdf (last viewed Apr. 10,
2023).
19 Id.
20 Polaris, Child Sex Trafficking, https://polarisproject.org/child-sex-trafficking/ (last visited Apr. 10, 2023).
21 The Florida Legislature Office of Program Policy Analysis & Government Accountability, Placement Challenges Persist for Child
Victims of Commercial Sexual Exploitation; Questions Regarding Effective Interventions and Outcomes Remain , (Jul. 2016), available
at https://oppaga.fl.gov/Products/ReportDetail?rn=16-04 (last visited March 16, 2023).
22
Supra note 15.
23 OPPAGA, Annual Report on the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children in Florida , 2022, Report 22-05, July 2022, pp. i and 2.
24 Id.
25 Id., p. 4.
26 Latzman, N. E., & Gibbs, D. (2020). Examining the link: Foster care runaway episodes and human trafficking . OPRE Report No.
2020-143. Washington, DC: Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services,
https://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/documents/opre/foster_care_runaway_human_trafficking_october_2020_508.pdf (last viewed
Apr. 10, 2023).
STORAGE NAME: h1557f.HHS PAGE: 4
DATE: 4/24/2023
that youth absent from foster care are even more vulnerable to human
trafficking than other runaways because they may not only lack
resources for basic needs but may also have fewer social resources or
family relationships to which they can turn. . . Anecdotal reports from
service providers indicate that pimps and others who facilitate trafficking
of youth specifically target youth in foster care by offering housing,
money, drugs, and alcohol. However, this link has not yet been
established in data from law enforcement or child welfare agencies.”27
Residential Care for Children
When children cannot safely remain at home with parents, Florida’s child welfare system finds safe out-
of-home placements for children. As of January 31, 2023, there were 20,900 children in out-of-home
care.28 Out-of-home placement options must be considered in the following order:
Nonoffending parent.
Relative caregiver.
Adoptive parent of the child’s sibling, when the department or community-based care lead
agency is aware of such sibling.
Fictive kin with a close existing relationship to the child.
Nonrelative caregiver that does not have an existing relationship with the child.
Licensed foster care.
Group or congregate care.29
Residential Care Licensed by DCF
DCF licenses residential group care placements as residential child-caring agencies 30 that provide
staffed 24-hour care for children in facilities maintained for that purpose.31 These include, but are not
limited to, maternity homes, runaway shelters, group homes, emergency shelters, 32 and at-risk houses.
As of January 2023, 1,797 children were in a residential group care placement, as depicted below (the
blue shading indicates the total number of children in licensed care, which includes licensed foster
homes).33
27 Id.
28 Department of Children and Families, Office of Child and Family Well -Being Dashboard, Children in Out-of-Home Care Monthly
Trend https://www2.myflfamilies.com/service-programs/child-welfare/dashboard/index2.shtml (last visited Apr. 10, 2023).
29 S. 39.4021(2), F.S.
30 S. 409.175, F.S.
31 Id.
32 Id.
33 Department of Children and Families, Child Welfare Key Indicators Monthly Report, Feb . 2023, p. 50, [hereinafter DCF]
https://www2.myflfamilies.com/service